


just a moment

by lostin_space



Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Mentions of Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 11:43:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19376023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: He’d heard his whole life of this magical day where, when the clock struck midnight on his 18th birthday, his world would freeze and only he and his soulmate would be unfrozen, free to spend their day together and unbothered.  Of course, everyone else would go on with their day.  It was like the universe would put you and that special someone on a whole new plane of existence.However, no one really talked about what happened if you didn’t know your soulmate at 18 or couldn’t find them during that day.





	just a moment

**Author's Note:**

> special thanks to this soulmate au prompt

Matteo didn’t know what he was expecting. **  
**

He’d heard his whole life of this magical day where, when the clock struck midnight on his 18th birthday, his world would freeze and only he and his soulmate would be unfrozen, free to spend their day together and unbothered.  Of course, everyone else would go on with their day.  It was like the universe would put you and that special someone on a whole new plane of existence.

However, no one really talked about what happened if you didn’t know your soulmate at 18 or couldn’t find them during that day.  He’d searched on it for weeks leading up to the day, reading forum after forum of horror stories.  He’d read more than one on clinically depressed people who spiraled, 24 hours of being absolutely alone with their own head being far too much.  Or anxious people who panicked until they couldn’t take it.  He even read a few who had attempted suicide.  Matteo was hoping he wouldn’t end up in that state of mind.

Still, as he looked around the party that Jonas had thrown and invited the whole school to, he desperately wanted to see someone as unfrozen as he was.  A lonely, pathetic part of him looked to Jonas, hoping he’d be moving.  But he wasn’t, he was frozen with a giant ass smile on face while looking straight at Hanna.  Of course.

“Anyone else unfrozen in here?” Matteo called, a last-ditch attempt at seeing if his soulmate was here.  He wasn’t.

A sigh pushed out of his chest, glancing around as he pushed himself towards the kitchen.  He really started understanding how people could feel so overwhelmed and paranoid by this.  It was disturbing, something out of a horror movie where everyone was so fucking far away from him and he couldn’t do anything about it.  He was alone.

He hoped whoever his soulmate is was coping with it.

Matteo moved sluggishly as he got a cup of water and made his way to his bedroom. He really just wanted to sleep the day away. Maybe if he slept long enough, he could wake up and everyone would be unfrozen again.

So he went to bed.

-

Matteo woke to the sun rudely shining in through the window. With a groan, he reached for his phone to see it wasn’t even noon yet.  He groaned louder.  He continued to lay there for a moment, hoping to will himself to sleep again so he won’t have to spend the day with everyone completely frozen.

It was one thing to isolate yourself. It was another to be forced into it.

However, he could only take so much before he got too hungry.  So, he had to get up.  He didn’t bother getting dressed outside of adding a pair of sweats and a jacket and he didn’t bother staying inside either. He didn’t like staring at all the frozen people, but, since they froze at midnight, there shouldn’t be many people on the street.

It was the quietest Berlin had ever been and Matteo hated it. He usually loved the quiet, but it was  _too_  quiet. Overwhelmingly quiet.  Which was really fucking annoying.

Still, he made it to his favorite 24-hour sandwich shop and walked right in.  There wasn’t actually anyone there except an employee who was frozen in the back, so he let himself behind the counter.  He crafted a sandwich as best he could and left the money on the counter.  He didn’t know exactly how this worked if they’d even notice anything was gone or if they’d get any money, but it subdued his conscious and that’s really all he cared about.  Well, that and actually eating.

“What’s cookin’ good lookin’?”

Matteo froze, his eyes casting up with his sandwich partially hanging out of his mouth. In the doorway stood a guy who was staring him down with fuck-me eyes paired with a little smirk on his lips.  If this was his soulmate, and that’s what appeared to be the case, Matteo couldn’t say the universe did him dirty.  The guy was fucking hot.  Coffee colored skin, septum piercing, stunning…  _everything_.

Everything seemed to slow down. He was way too perfect.  Mind-numbing, mouth-watering, body-aching type of perfect.

Then he bit his lip and his face slowly broke out into a wild grin, his entire face beaming. Matteo nearly fainted right then and there. Who the hell was allowed to go from  _that_  hot to  _that_  cute  _that_  fast?  And why the hell were they  _his_?

“Sorry, sorry, that was bad. In my defense, I thought I had some time to come up with a better pick-up line. Go figure that you’re older than me,” he said, stepping further into the shop. Matteo was frozen as he watched him.

This was fucking insane. How was someone that looked like him supposed to be Matteo’s soulmate? That didn’t make any sense.

The guy was still grinning as he leaned on the counter across from him, “I know you’re not frozen.”

Suddenly, Matteo remembered how to blink.

“Sorry, sorry,” Matteo said, swallowing the bite he’d taken and wiping his mouth. Maybe he should’ve actually tried to look nice.  “Uh, hi.”

“Hi,” the guy chuckled, “I’m David.”

“Matteo.”

“Matteo,” David repeated, seeming to roll his name in his mouth and Matteo felt chills down his spine, “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Matteo murmured, taking him in once more before holding out his sandwich to him. David grinned but shook his head.

“I’m good, thank you.”

“So, uh, not to sound rude, but how did you find me? I mean, literally could’ve been anywhere,” Matteo pointed out. David shrugged his shoulders.

“I figured I should go to places I would go and hope for the best,” David explained, “I got lucky.”

Matteo gulped, “Yeah.”

“I just moved here too, so,” he paused, looking him very obviously up and down in a way that made Matteo’s stomach tighten, “Really lucky.”

They fell into a small vat of silence, staring at each other without any sense of shame as Matteo finished his food.  He could get used to this. David wasn’t overwhelming, he was just a calming presence that was apparently all his. He’d known that your soulmate was supposed to be calming, but Matteo hadn’t realized he would actually be  _getting_  one.  Well, he knew, but he didn’t  _know_  know. It didn’t feel real.

With David staring at him, it still didn’t.

“Wanna hang out?” Matteo managed to ask after he finished.  David blinked so slow Matteo wondered if he was fantasizing without realizing.

“That’s what we’re supposed to do, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but if, if you don’t want then‒” Matteo stopped himself, taking a deep breath. Jonas had told him that he just had to be smooth and the girl that the universe chose for him would fall for him immediately. Of course, Jonas was missing the giant ‘queer’ sign that hung over his head. Still, he had a point. Matteo dug in his pocket. “Fancy a joint?”

David glanced him up and down, “Yeah, sure.”

Matteo gave a grin, tucking the joint behind his ear and led the way outside. They leaned against the outside of the shop and the moment he lit up, he could feel the tension slip away. No more making a fool of himself in front of his soulmate.

_His_  soulmate.

“So, what brings you here this close to the end of the school year?” Matteo asked.  David raised an eyebrow.

“Why?”

“You’re my soulmate apparently,” It was the first time either of them had said it out loud. Yeah, still insane. “Probably should get to know you.”

“Mm, maybe,” David said, tilting his head back against the wall. He brought the joint to his lips and suddenly became the cover of a magazine.

“You not gonna tell me?”

David turned his head to face him, “Killed someone. Had to go into hiding.

Matteo grinned helplessly, “Brutal.”

“I know.”

David was easy to talk to. That was obviously a good thing since they were soulmates. This was his person.  And his person was witty, hot, nice, and so much more that he would get to learn over a lifetime. He was so lucky.

“Wanna go see a movie?  I may or may not know how to work shit at a theatre,” David said, scrunching up his nose just a little bit when he gave that wide, wide smile.

“Let’s go.”

Within twenty minutes, Matteo found himself in a theatre alone with David and a movie he’d never heard of. He didn’t mind. Nor did he even really watch it.  He spent two hours with his head thrown back, staring at David and memorizing his face.

In that time spent memorizing, he also was faced with the reality that he didn’t really have a choice but to come out now.  His soulmate was a man‒and it definitely did not feel like a platonic soulmate‒and he wouldn’t be able to hide that for long.  Maybe he could lie for a while, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

Maybe he wouldn’t have to even really come out. Maybe he could just introduce David as his soulmate and let everyone form their own opinion. He didn’t want to have to tell everyone, that just seemed so unnecessary. It’s his thing. He didn’t want to announce it to the world. He just wanted to say “this is David, he’s my soulmate” and have people roll with it.

Once the movie rolled to an end, they got back to talking.  He found out David was an artist, that he liked to dance, that he loved movies. Matteo couldn’t think of anything interesting about himself to share.

“So basically you’re super fucking interesting and I’m a boring ass, let down soulmate, okay,” Matteo said, laughing slightly. David rolled his eyes, shifting to face Matteo even more.

“No, you’re not boring, you’re… quiet and you’re funny. You… you’re a lot of things, I don’t know, I don’t think you’re a letdown,” David said. Oh yeah, he definitely got lucky in the soulmate department.

“Did you have anyone in mind of who your soulmate might’ve been?” Matteo bothered to ask. As much as he enjoyed hearing David say that he wasn’t a letdown, he also wasn’t one to enjoy being showered in compliments. That was enough to reassure him that David actually liked him.

“No, not really. Did you?” David asked. Silence fell over them once again as Matteo debated telling him about Jonas.  It felt like something stupid to admit since Jonas wasn’t  _really_  an option, he was more of a stupid hope.  However, this was his soulmate and what was the point of lying?

“Uh, kinda. My best friend,” Matteo admitted, looking down, “But I didn’t know if it’d be a platonic soulmate or not, I didn’t know what I was going to have.”

“I thought I was going to have a platonic soulmate,” David admitted.  Matteo furrowed his eyebrows as he looked up to him again.

“Why?”

“I don’t know, just didn’t think I’d ever have someone made for me, like, romantically. Thought I’d have to struggle to find that myself.”

“Well, what if we are platonic soulmates?” Matteo suggested though he hoped that wasn’t true. How awkward would it be to be attracted to you universe-decided best friend for life?

“I mean… Not to be rude, but I really hope not,” David said. His cheeks were tinted red and Matteo could feel his own matching it. “Do you?  Want us to be platonic?”

“No.”

“Good.”

What is the acceptable amount of time knowing someone before you kiss them?

There was something a lot more peaceful about the world being frozen when you weren’t alone anymore. He had someone to talk to, to joke with, to have dinner with, to walk around Berlin with and not have anyone interrupt them. It was like a getaway without all the bullshit that involved physically getting away. It was simple and easy and he wouldn’t have wanted to spend his day with anyone else aside from David.

As they headed back to Matteo’s place at nearly 10 at night, he was sold. The universe had given him the best gift. Part of him was even a little eager to introduce him to everyone. Just, eventually.  He wanted to keep him to himself for a little longer, to get to know him a little better.

“Holy shit, there’s a million fucking people here,” David said, huffing a laugh as he weaved through the people in Matteo’s apartment.

“Yeah, but my friend’s thought it was a good idea to invite everyone in the school so the girl of my dreams would be there to freeze with me,” Matteo feigned a wistful tone, grinning at David who snorted.

“They think you’re straight?”

“Yeah.”

“How? You’d set off anyone’s gaydar from a million miles away,” David joked, giggling even more when Matteo shoved him.  They were both smiling as he led him to his room.

“Welcome to me,” Matteo sighed, throwing his arms out and collapsing on his bed.

For the third time since he met David, the universe seemed to slow down as he watched him. David walked around the room, aimlessly touching things as he absorbed the space. Matteo hated having pretty much anyone in his space.

He liked David being there.

He liked it more when David fell to the bed beside him.

“You wanna stay the night?”

“Sure.”

Life got a little better when David changed into his clothes.

“I’m kind of going to miss the silence once the world wakes up,” Matteo admitted as David crawled under the blanket beside him, “I like being here with you.”

“I’ll still be here.”

Matteo smiled, “You got a point.”

David scooted closer, tucking his hand beneath his head. It was stupid, but it felt like they’d known each other forever. Everything was so ridiculously comfortable. He’d heard how great it was for soulmates, how everything made more sense.  He hadn’t expected it to feel this good.

He couldn’t wait until David’s 18th birthday so they could do this again.

Matteo reached out, his hand resting against David’s arm and tracing nonsensical shapes against his skin. In less than an hour, life would resume.  He wanted just this. He wanted just now.

“So,” David suddenly said, his eyes anywhere but Matteo’s, “There’s something I should probably tell you.”

“Okay.”

“I… I thought I had more time, honestly, and I’ve been thinking all day about when I should tell you.  But you’re my soulmate and I figure starting this whole thing with keeping secrets is probably a bad idea,” David said. Matteo’s eyebrows slowly pulled together in concern.

“What’s up?”

“I mean, I, I have like a rough draft of how I should tell my soulmate typed up on my phone if you wanted me to send it to you, or, like, let you read it. I could read it to you,” David offered, still not looking at him. Matteo thought about taking his hand off him.  Instead, he moved it to grab David’s nervous hand.

“Just say it.”

With a heavy breath, David said, “I’m trans.”

“Okay,” Matteo said, still staring at him. David finally,  _finally_  looked at him again.

“Is that okay?” he asked, a mix of confusion and hesitation scattered all over his face.

“Yeah,” Matteo agreed. He paused for a beat. “What does that mean exactly?”

David’s eyebrows instantly pulled together and he searched Matteo’s face a handful of times before breaking out into a wild smile.  Laughter was bubbling out of him as he asked, “You just said you were okay with it without even knowing what it means?”

“Yeah,” Matteo said. Even though he was still pretty confused, David’s smile was contagious and he gave one right back. “I mean, you’re my soulmate, you know? You’re literally specially crafted for me, so I’d eventually be okay with whatever you are. Why should waste time and energy?”

“You are insane,” David said, shaking his head, “But thank you.”

“What exactly does it mean, like, for you?”

“I, uh, it means…” David paused again, looking at him and then looking away. He eventually made eye contact. Matteo added brave to the list of things he learned about him. “I was born in the body of a girl.”

Matteo nodded slowly, “Okay. So that means you’re a‒”

“Boy. I’m a boy,” David said simply, “I just have to try a little harder.”

“Sounds like work,” Matteo said, scooting a little closer. David smiled at him, an easy little smile.

“Yeah, you could say that,” David hummed, “You really don’t mind?”

“I mean, I don’t fully understand all the mechanics of it, but if it’s who you are, then who am I to do anything but accept it and appreciate you not being a dick for me not knowing,” Matteo said, again scooting closer. David pulled him into a hug, wrapping him up in his arms all nice and tight and secure.

“I’ll answer any questions you have,” David said. Matteo shut his eyes.

“Tomorrow?”

“Absolutely.”

They fell silent all over again and Matteo found solace in the fact that the only sounds he heard were David’s breathing and his heart beating.  It was better than any pillow he could’ve ever been given.

He had spent years fearing the prospect of a soulmate and he had spent the last few months worrying that he wouldn’t find him and that he’d go insane from loneliness. From what David had said, it sounded like he hadn’t expected much either.  Instead, he got to spend most of his day with this guy who he would get to spend forever with and it was so fucking  _easy_.

This wasn’t scary. This was safe. He prayed that David felt the same way. He had to assume he did.

Eventually, Matteo felt himself drifting off and he couldn’t really have chosen a better place to do so than in David’s arms.  The last thing he heard before time unfroze and they were given back to reality was David’s voice.

“Happy birthday, Matteo.”

**Author's Note:**

> also on my tumblr: spaceskam


End file.
